All eyes are on Georgia as control of the Senate is up for grabs during runoff elections on Jan. 5.
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Georgia Senate incumbent Kelly Loeffler and challenger Raphael Warnock stuck to their scripts during an Atlanta Press Club debate Sunday night.
For Loeffler, that meant reciting her campaign ads nearly word-for-word: Referring constantly to her opponent as radical liberal Raphael Warnock, sometimes twice in the same sentence. Additionally, she kept pressing her attacks on Warnock calling police gangsters and thugs and a snippet from a Warnock sermon on how it is impossible to serve both God and the military.
Warnocks answers were also familiar his narrative in campaign ads so far, aside from defending himself from Loefflers claims, has been his support of health care coverage for those with preexisting conditions and pointing out that Loefflers strategy has revolved around demonizing him, not promoting herself.
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Loeffler continued the dire warnings President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence stressed at their Georgia campaign stops this weekend: If Republicans lose the Senate, the American Dream will give way to socialism, leaning multiple times on Minority Leader Chuck Schumers Take Georgia, change America quote.
Loeffler said Warnock would be a rubber stamp for Schumer, despite boasting during an August campaign stop in Savannah that she was the only U.S. Senator that has a 100% Senate voting record with our president.
Warnock took shots at Loeffler being appointed to her senate seat, calling her Georgias appointed senator
Kelly Loeffler is trying to misrepresent me because she knows she has spent the first 10 months of her tenure thinking about herself, Warnock said. Shes the unelected senator of Georgia. She was appointed. The people of Georgia have been disappointed.
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The focus of the debate was rarely on Georgia-specific issues for either candidate, spare the results of the presidential race.
During a section of the debate in which the candidates asked each other questions, Warnock asked Loeffler, Did Donald Trump lose a recent presidential election?
Loeffler’s answer: President Trump has every right to use every legal recourse available. In our own state weve seen time and again we have investigations that need to be completed. Weve had two audits, and those audits have discovered thousands of votes here in several counties in Georgia that were not counted.
When pressed on the subject of Georgias election results and Trumps recent criticism of Gov. Brian Kemp, Loeffler, refused to answer whether she thought Trump won the election and instead pointed toward the 250 active investigations in Georgia announced by the Secretary of States office last week.
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Earlier Sunday, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger defended the integrity of the general election in an ABC News interview, noting that despite those 250 investigations, his office has not found evidence supporting “systemic fraud” that would change the certified outcome: President-elect Joe Biden won Georgia by over 12,000 votes.
After the hourlong debate, Loefflers message for the evening was: The best way to do right by Georgians is by protecting the Republican Senate majority, fighting back socialism and defeating radical liberal Raphael Warnock.
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Warnock, on the other hand, attempted to appeal to the everyman by portraying Loeffler, the wealthiest senator in the country, as out of touch with Georgians, and pointing toward the need to heal division in the country, a message shared by Biden.
In a crowded field of candidates in last month’s special election, Loeffler received 25.9%, with 1,273,214 votes. Warnock finished with 32.9%, with 1,617,035 votes.
In Georgia, candidates must win by 50% plus one to avoid a runoff.
Georgians will settle the race on Jan. 5. The deadline to register to vote is Monday, and early voting begins on Dec. 14.
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